Studio Day

It is a cool late winter New England morning. I awake to the sound of the wind blowing through the bare branches of the naked trees. Looking out the window, the sky is still dark but soon the sun will be glistening off the snow. I've had a good nights sleep, and good thing, because the last 14 weeks have all lead to this.

It's February 21st, 2014, and it's Studio Day, the day I record my first professional voice over demos. I'm nervously excited--or excitedly nervous, I can't decide which--but I feel ready. My coach Angela and I have taken the last three weeks going over my scripts, and my best friend Duncan will be joining me (he doesn't know it yet, but I've decided to start introducing him as the founding member of my Entourage.) And last week, I took a  test trip into town to make sure I know where the studio is (thanks to another friend, Bob, for the ride over there.)

7:45 AM. After breakfast and the usual morning getting ready, it's time to leave. I grab my backpack containing the supplies for the day: notebook and pens, water and more water, two sets of scripts--my marked up scripts and  clean copies for the studio--and $200 cash; I have the studio for two hours at $100 each. I am leaving a little earlier than needed, I don't need to be there until about 10:15, but I have a near phobic fear of being late, especially for something really important like this. Besides, I have to pick up Duncan, and we are driving into Boston, and I don't want to take a chance on the Friday morning traffic.

The plan is to park at the Museum of Science-Boston, and take the Green Line C train to the Hynes Convention Center stop. Arriving at the museum around 9, I figure we have a half-hour to 45 minutes to kill, so we wander around the place, then head off to the train.

At the appropriate stop, we get off, walk down  Newbury St, and right to the building--Cybersound Music. Perry Geyer, the owner, who is also my sound engineer this morning, greets us. It's a small studio-reception area, two recording booths and a booth with the engineering equipment. The booth I'll be using is Studio A, the larger and more updated studio. I have a microphone, headphones, and a TelePrompter off of which I can read the copy. There is also a piano and glass window through which I can see Perry and Duncan. Perry will be signaling me that we're rolling.

Sound check, and it's time to start. Angela has called in via Skype, and, as the demo producer, she calls the action. We have 11 scripts to record in two hours, and it takes me 15 minutes to complete the first one. This leaves me just over 10 minutes to complete each of the others. Are we going to make it? But a pattern develops---one take of the complete script, then several takes of each sentence, and a final recording of the whole. It's interesting why we do it this way. Let's say we want a perfect take of the sentence "I like chocolate milk." They can take the "I like" from take one, and put it together with the "chocolate milk" from take three. And you have a perfect recording of that sentence.

For the next hour and 45 minutes we complete one script after the next--some I do quickly, others take more time. Finally, the last script--good thing it's a short one, because Angela calls "That's a wrap" with literally 30 seconds to spare.

And with that, the recording is complete. I take off my headphones and rejoin Perry and Duncan. We talk as Perry sends off the files to Such A Voice's post production team (out of the two hours in the studio, there's about  50 minutes of actual recorded material); it will take about 5- 8 weeks or so to get the final edit back from them.  I pay, Perry gives me his card, and the business of the day is done. It's 12:40 PM.

Before leaving the neighborhood, Duncan and I grab lunch, and we take the train back to the museum.

It's a little after 4:00 by the time I get back home after dropping Duncan off, and I just now realize how exhausted I am. It's been a stressful day--in a good way. I have passed an important milestone in starting a new career, and am excited to get the finished product back. I also realize that I have been so focused on the business at hand that I've completely forgotten that I've had a camera with me all day----now I don't have any pictures of the experience!

I have dinner, but by 8:00 I just can't stay awake any longer, so to bed I go, knowing that it's been a good day, and it's only the beginning.